Black Bullet / First Impressions

「タウルスの心臓、光の槍」 (Taurusu no Shinzou, Hikari no Yari)
“Heart of Taurus, Spear of Light”

After last week’s bombshell, this week’s episode smacked us with another one — albeit with slightly less emotion.

A War of Attrition

In any war, it’s never prudent to fight an uphill battle without some sort of strategy in place ahead of time. As we’ve seen throughout history, the underdogs can manage to scrape a victory from the claws of defeat with a bit of ingenuity and planning. But if I were to describe the war Rentaro and company are currently placed in, it sounds like the people in charge are making some very careless decisions. Between failing to assess the environment (to you know, avoid getting flanked) and sending Civil Officers straight up against a Lion King worthy stampede of Gastrea, its slowly starting to feel like they’re deliberately trying to lose! All I know is that when a standing commander loses a leg on the battlefield, they’re usually not playing around.

Just what are Gastrea?

After that tiny little hint we got when we saw the toy bike within the briefcase, there hasn’t been much else revealed about the oversized bugs. While I want to avoid making any speculation because I really have no idea how their creation or existence plays into things, you have to wonder — why is Aldebaran making such a huge effort to lead an army of its own?

Kagetane Returns!

Even though we all knew deep down inside that Kagetane didn’t bite the bullet, it’s nice to see him finally make his reappearance — and in such style! Getting back on track though, don’t you think it’s so awesome that he may be a good guy this time around? Because if there’s anything awesome about a bad guy that cheats death is a bad guy that cheats death and joins the protagonist, am I right?! Seriously though, I am happy to see that Kagetane isn’t trying to start a fight with Rentaro. Even though he has plenty of reasons to do so, I’m really hoping that he continues to stay all buddy-buddy with Rentaro as they walk toward the metaphorical “Queen”.

Looking Ahead

With only two more episodes left until the series comes to a close it looks like things won’t be slowing down at all. Even with a ton of questions that still haven’t been answered (I saw how you tried to dodge Enju’s actual health problems, Black Bullet writers!), I think I personally will be pretty content if we at least get to see some good ol’ vigilante action. Don’t get me wrong though, should we go down the path of the story giving us closure I’ll take that too!

 

Preview

35 Comments

  1. A rather typical battle episode, the best part I think, besides Tina working the bolt on her Barret 98B, was Kagetane’s reappearance. While Rentarou sees him as monster, I have a feeling he’s more or less thinking: “Oh? That was a Tuesday” kind of deal. And my copy paste of a blog post.

    Episode Thoughts:

    Not too much really. I do agree that Rentarou had all rights to defeat the Gastrea that was flanking his encampment, but it is still going AWOL in the face of the enemy. Although this did mean he and his group got spared from the onslaught.

    The elder Gado seems to be one of those entrenched backwards people. No doubt he treats his initiator like his daughter, or at least his partner in battle, but for change like what Rentarou and his friends are doing, it isn’t something he would be a part of. He most likely sees Seitenshi’s attempts to give cursed children rights as appalling, but not to the extent as the attempt by Kikunojou Tendou to destabilize and destroy Tokyo and try to pin the blame on the cursed children.

    And the best part of the episode is Kagetane and Kohina’s reappearance. I always found Kagetane to be one of those villains you hate to love, and after the rather underwhelming battle earlier in the series, I was hoping for a rematch. Sadly we didn’t get one this episode, nor do I think we’ll be seeing one at all next episode, but the fact there is a sort of détente or at least a cease-fire between the two and Rentarou seems refreshing after the emotional bomb that was dropped on us last week.

    And somewhere out there, someone is shipping Rentarou x Kagetane. Very much foe yay with this. And this scene was kinda…

    Jusuchin (Military Otaku)
    Reply

  4. Absolutely loved this episode and I’m extremely happy at Kagetane and Kohina making a return.

    I can bet many of us, including myself, were just waiting for Kagetane and Rentaro to team up. Like Kagetane said, the two of them are really not all that different. Kagetane is simply what would happen to Rentaro if he ever got pushed past his breaking point.

    I love how Rentaro says that Kagetane “really is broken”, and the man simply returns with a figurative “duh.”

    Kohina again is both cute and deadly and sounded as if she would have been genuinely sad if Enju had died. As for her dad, I actually like that Kagetane has a bit of characterization here, and I know I can’t be the only one who wanted to see his face. And I really liked his foreboding line about knowing for sure that Rentaro will one day join him.

    As of this point, with all the really crappy humans we keep running into (lookin’ at you, Gado), I really wouldn’t blame Rentaro if he did go dark.

    Well, we have 2 more episodes, we’ll have to see what they do with them. However, with how good this show has been this season, I have high hopes.

    Irenesharda
    Reply

  7. “The thing under this mask is your own face” that line,

    in be 4 “I am your father lol”!

    seriously though, when I look at Kohina she looks a bit like rentarou in the hair style and
    coloration department

    lol
    Reply

  8. Silly personal thoughts that came up watching this episode. Most of them might not be funny, and could in fact spoil your mood:
    Show Spoiler ▼

    I’m confident about these, though:
    https://randomc.net/image/Black%20Bullet/Black%20Bullet%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2027.jpg
    Rentaro: *Screams*
    https://randomc.net/image/Black%20Bullet/Black%20Bullet%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2032.jpg
    Kagetane: Oh, by the way. We met Pleiades earlier. If you’re lucky, you might be able to find some of the larger pieces still floating upstream somewhere.

    ReverseTales
    Reply

    3. LOL. Good job. Had the same thoughts about the mercury “lasers” (not to mention apparent Gastrea immunity to mercury poisoning) and hunting down the Gastrea (e.g. intercepting the flanking attempt).

      daikama
      Reply

  9. I feel sorry for Rentaro, having to constantly deal with all these straw men. As well as you know, Gastrea, constant threat of death, loli harems, but the straw men seem especially frustrating to deal with.

    whemleh
    Reply

  11. Oh boy, the generic “Join the dark side Luke” villain with hardly a shred personality is back……..I guess he and Rentaro make a good fit.

    Episode was decent but the pacing was really off here. The battle escalated way to quickly and I wasn’t really sure why they decided to introduce that commanders son when we didn’t even know anything about him. I might have cared about him being broken by his partners death if i had actually knew who they were.

    Things still seem to be going on a predictable pattern with Rentaro obviously being coaxed to join Kagetane with the dumb discrimination. Again this is something we all saw at the beginning arc. Seems really redundant that the show feels the need to repeat the same themes over and over without looking at anything in a critical fashion.

    leatherhead333
    Reply

  12. Lucky for Rentaro that he had his Reinforced Limbs, or he would not again left His Girl behind. I know he do it to protect her. But i dont think she will understand it. She feel left behind

    Germanguy
    Reply

  14. @leatherhead333
    It’s a shame we will never see a Syaoran Li,Jim Hawking or Yahiko Myojin kid type character in anime or see a grade school romance. Tina and Enju could of had love interests their own age but of course the otaku would think that they(Enju and Tina) getting involved with elementary school boys would taint there pureness.

    Korina
    Reply

  16. the army are so stupid. “alright this rentaro desert his post to save the remaining back line , but we have to punish him” ..”how? , let’s just order him to go kill enemy’s artillery, behind the enemy line ofc SOLO.” an important and dangerous task aka suicide mission but entrust to one man lel i hope they all die , what are they going to do if rentaro fail, punish adjuvants , nope they will all die too , such retard.

    PeTdo
    Reply

    1. It’s actually DUMBER then that. Rentarou is one of the most powerful “units” they have right now, with him being a cyborg and all. Naturally, you’d send one of your most powerful units in a suicide mission, with absolutely no back up, right?

      dmonhiro
      Reply

  17. The champ is here! KUROHANE da man who dun give a fuck and would kill the fucking baldy and everyone in that room if theu even try to look at him funny. Kurohane has it right, in this god forsaken world , might makes right, as long as you can kill your opposition or make them fear you then they rule.

    Look at Satomi who let himself not only get punked out like a little bitch, but also sent on a mission that meant death. If he was smart and strong enough to beat kurohane he should have slaughtered everyone on thst room say fuck you Tokyo and travel to the next spot.

    In black bullet, you reap what you sow and if people are still politicking on death door then they deserve death. Kisara ideals are naive saying it’s worth protecting. Bull crap, in all of humanity history if you want positive change you have to force it at gun point.

    I couldn’t help grin from ear to ear when Kurohane showed up. Hell John Cena theme song was playing in my head!

    And now it looks like he’s going to help save worthless Tokyo and their worthless military. After all if he wants Satomi dead he could have done it by now.

    Duzz
    Reply

  18. You know…again, you don’t need to make 99% of the rest of humanity look like total heartless douchebags JUST to show us Rentaro and co. are “good” and such…

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

  19. Pretty good episode I guess. There were some good moments, but also some not so good ones. As Takaii mentioned a lot of unanswered questions remain and a few more added.

    The whole meeting with Gado was off IMO:
    – Gado: “However, it didn’t take my leg, I let ‘im have it”. LOL, sure you did.

    – “Your actions were equal to fleeing in the presence of the enemy”. …LOLWAT!? How exactly does one “flee the enemy” by purposefully chasing down, engaging and defeating said enemy who is attempting flanking maneuver? >_>. Disobeying orders? Sure, I can see that, but “fleeing from the enemy”? Sorry, literally LOL’d at that.

    – I’m a bit confused about the civilian officer system. Why/how does Gado have absolute court martial powers legally permitting him to kill Rentaro without even a trial? It is a civilian force – right? Remove Rentaro as leader and disband his group? OK, I guess, though does Gado’s authority trump Seitenshi’s (she did appoint Rentaro as a group leader directly)? Fine, whatever, but death penalty let alone one without trial? Having trouble buying that.

    – Given the dialog, the entire thing struck me as “I blame you for my son’s death because you left your post. Now I’m taking revenge.” Not buying Gado’s lip service about him accepting responsibility for convincing his son to join the civilian defense force. It also seemed a bit too scripted of a plot device to separate Rentaro from the group so he could meet up with Kagetane alone. Kind of surprised that Kisara let him do just that. Not big deal, but still…

    But like I said, there were good moments as well. Liked Tina sniping away with her .50 BMG rifle, and I was glad (a little surprised TBH) that Kisara didn’t struggle with her disease at some inopportune moment. Kudos for that. Wouldn’t have minded if that brief skirmish lasted a bit longer.

    And per last EPs end card spoiler, yes, he’s back. Kagetane is an interesting character IMO, arguably the most interesting. I really disliked him early on, but to my surprise, he’s growing on me. Never thought I’d write this a few weeks ago, but I’m glad he’s back. Kohina is still as pscyho crazy as ever: “Oh good Enju’s alive! I want to see her, I want to cut her…etc. etc.” Well, at least she’s consistent.

    @Takaii: “With only two more episodes left until the series comes to a close it looks like things won’t be slowing down at all. Even with a ton of questions that still haven’t been answered (I saw how you tried to dodge Enju’s actual health problems, Black Bullet writers!)…”

    Agree, and I also noticed the continued dodging of Enju’s health problems. I hope they actually do address that with a positive result, (though I doubt it with this series). I mean why bring it up if you’re not going to advance that plot line? Lots of questions do remain, but with two episodes left I’m skeptical that most, let alone all, will be answered. Still, despite the flaws, Black Bullet has managed to keep my interest which is saying something. Looking forward to seeing how things turn out.

    daikama
    Reply

  20. Whoo the downvotes on my original comment.

    And I expect this next one will get it as well. I dunno, Tina’s rifle has evaded me ever since I’ve started ID’ing the guns in the series.

    I think it’s an Accuracy International AX50 with just a fancier rail, though gun blogger has said it’s a Barret 98B. I still think it’s the AX50 because the 98B is in .338 Lapua.

    Jusuchin (Military Otaku)
    Reply

  21. “they never found the body” (T) and “nobody could have survived this” (T) – called it back in the episode where Kagetane got defeated!
    I am fully expecting Rentaro’s friends to come to his aid in most dramatic moment of the fight with the Pleiades.

    ewok40k
    Reply

  22. So, we know that Gastrea can infect others with their virus by introducing their bodily fluids into the victim’s body, assuming that the victim isn’t killed outright, right? So, Rentarou was bitten by a Gastrea-hound and saliva counts as bodily fluid, so why didn’t Rentarou get infected?

    Mincemaker
    Reply

    1. Hunch will be, his varanium armanents he has must have somehow countered the gastrea virus since it was a “single” stage 1 type, however a bite from the pack leader or too many bites from the pack itself may be his end as a human being

      whryder
      Reply

  23. Ep 12:

    Baeh, foul play at the end of the Episode. Well if they think to insert drama, well not. This is beyond human sense.

    Well, if i go more in detail, i could also wait for ep 12 to be live…

    Germanguy
    Reply

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